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the rest of the letter

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Please get rid of your soda habit. It’s not just too much sugar, but has artificial food coloring too. Pass over the candy in the chemotherapy suite. Empty calories indeed! Focus instead on nutrition dense food. When the volunteers bring in the tray of donuts , I hope you’d look the other way. When the nurse offers you ginger ale with your chemo, politely ask for diet soda instead. Better yet, ditch the soda altogether and ask for water instead. I don’t like ingredients that sound like hardware codes. (Red 40, Yellow #6, etc) . Try to eat fresh , unprocessed food….but, if your cancer is already very advanced, I don’t think the price of organic food is worth the benefits. GIVE YOUR THROAT A BREAK : Give up smoking. Or at least try… If you have throat or gut cancer, say goodbye to alcoholic drinks. At least for the next 2-3 years… Did you know alcohol also causes cancer? Despite being common knowledge among doctors, it is virtually an unknown fact amongst the laypeople!LOSING WEIGHT: Exercise more . Lose some weight. Check out this link. https://tinyurl.com/yawlusrjContrary to popular belief, when you have cancer, weight loss can actually be better than weight gain.SLEEP AND EXERCISE: Get more quality sleep and turn down the night lights! https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorde...for-your-health If possible sleep during the dark hours. If you have sleep apnea and own a CPAP (continuous positive pressure ) machine, use it. White noise could help you sleep better, without needing a sleeping pill.Exercise. Even 5 minutes a day is better than nothing. Yoga and relaxation techniques sound harmless and might help reduce your levels of stress hormones.ORGANIZE AND DE-STRESSGet organized. Chemo and radiation schedules can be very confusing. Buy a nice journal and write down every important date and appointment. If you are tech savvy, get a calendar app! Make a living will. If you can, appoint a relative as a POA (power of attorney) in case you later can no longer make your own medical decisions. Reorganize your finances and declutter your possessions. The ultimate goal is to reduce stress. (Again, see above). Listen to some relaxing music. In between chemo sessions, go somewhere far for a mini vacation. If you don’t have any friends, make new ones. Try not to burn your bridges.Rekindle old friendships and reconcile with distanced relatives. There is no such thing as a perfect family. Besides, you might need their bone marrow one day…. 😌 https://tinyurl.com/yb6r7oeeMY PROMISE : I am glad that you took the time to read this open letter. I might not always have twenty minutes to sit down with you and chat, in fact it seems that I am always running off to something else. I will try to invest as much quality time with you as I can find, even if it is only 5 -10 minutes. This is my challenge as much as it is yours, your future success as it will be mine.
Your Oncologist